Ho, ho, ho or bah humbug?

I really don't like Christmas. I first began to dislike it when my parents separated and it just didn't feel the same anymore. After that, my blossoming social conscious simply couldn't deal with the fact that some people were lonely on Christmas, many families had fights at Christmas lunch, children in Africa were starving while we gorged ourselves and presents seemed to be the major - and only - focus.

Let me say right at the outset that I'm not Christian but I have enormous respect for all religions. For that reason, the focus on Christmas presents and overeating and drinking really bothers me. Isn't Christmas meant to be for Christians worldwide to celebrate the birth of Jesus? It sits uneasily with me that it's become so commercialised. I'm not against the giving of gifts, I think it's a lovely idea; I'm against it being the only focus of Christmas.

I know people who say that they really like Christmas because they get to spend time with the people they love and cherish. I've slowly come around to that idea. Over the years our Christmas days have morphed and changed. After my parents' separation my mother, sister and I began to celebrate the day with a brunch my father and then a trip to the beach. Later, I met my husband and his family not only invited me to spend every Christmas with them but also included my mother and sister. These days, my sister and I make sure we have lunch together at one of our houses. The day begins with a brunch with dear friends. We all exchange gifts but the day is really about friendship and fellowship. It's always relaxing and a lot of fun. Yes, we do eat and drink too much while there are people starving overseas and lonely people and broken families, and that all sits uneasily with me. However, these days I tend to look at it in terms of counting my blessings and being grateful for the family, friendship and food, knowing that other people lack those blessings.

Maybe one day when all the children in the family are grown we can agree to give what we would have spent on gifts for each other to help people who lack those blessings. I think then I'll actually be able to say that I like Christmas. Until then, although I like the day itself, I don't like what surrounds it.

Cheers.

Books, glorious books

As I sit and look around the room, I can see two bookshelves absolutely overflowing with books. That's not counting the five I cannot currently see! That's a lot of books and a lot of bookshelves. We LOVE books in this house! However, do we need to keep buying them???

Whenever we buy a new book, we're contributing not only to mass consumerism but to environmental destruction. I don't think I'll ever stop buying them or move to ebooks or a kindle. However, I think there's a way to be smarter about it. Several years ago, inspired by Oprah Winfrey I bought Eckhard Tolle's A New Earth. I'm sure it was a good and useful book but, for me who'd already done a lot of reading many years prior about Zen Buddhism, it was nothing new. I was annoyed with myself for having bought it and decided that I would try, where possible, to borrow the book I wanted to read before buying it, to see if I actually wanted to buy it.

A couple of weeks ago, I bought a book by Alison Weir entitled, The Lady in the Tower. I knew nothing about it and haven't read it yet. However, in this case, I'm happy to own it because it's research into Anne Boleyn's last days. I've been fascinated by her since before I could talk. I will read it one day but, in the meantime, it reflects who I am and gives me a sense of anticipation when I see it sitting there. I don't want to stop buying books. I just want to stop and think before I buy. I also want to check out second-hand book stores first. We managed to buy all of John Marsden's Tomorrow Series at Maisie's in Brighton a few years ago.

I'm also thinking that it might to be time to donate some of our books to Oxfam or Rotary who have fantastic second-hand book shops, the proceeds from which fund wonderful humanitarian projects. Problem is, once I'm in there, I may just walk out with more books than I donated!

Cheers.

This and that

I cannot believe it's been a month since I last blogged. I really love doing it but life has been crazy and I've let it slide. I apologise, dear readers.

The two parts to the Footprints project are trying to live as eco-friendly and ethically as possible. I realise, as time progresses, that I'm far more passionate about the latter. Unfortunately, it's the latter that is a can of worms! I thought I was doing pretty well until I took the following quiz and learnt that I have 40 "slaves". WTF!!!
http://www.slaveryfootprint.org
We try to be conscientious about what we buy but what we hadn't taken into consideration were issues like where the raw material is sourced. Apparently that's a big ethical issue, too. Cotton farming in some countries uses children, as does the farming of one of the raw materials used to manufacture smart phones. I'm glad my phone's dumb.

One store that seems to be doing okay is American Apparel. They've had some complaints made against them by past employees but, on the whole, they seem like they're trying to make a difference. I don't know if that difference extends to the cotton etc used in their products but their clothes are made in the US (it's a US company) at factories which are safe and where employees are paid at least the minimum wage. My husband and I checked out their Adelaide store recently and decided that we might try some of their clothes. The best thing is second-hand, however, so this would be more for underwear etc.
http://store.americanapparel.com.au/

The water bill came in the other day. All I can say is, "Aaaarrrrrgggghhhh". The bar graph showed an increase in water output. I'm at a loss to explain this. I only hope it's because of watering our fledgeling veggie patch. We've been trying to cut back on all use of resources so I'll have to get back to you when I've figured this one out.

Cheers

Those dreaded car emissions

One of the things I always say to the children is that if they've tried their best the outcome is fine. They can be pretty hard on themselves so I try to lighten their load a little. The thing is they come by it honestly but I don't apply the same philosophy myself; self flagellation is my style. So it has been with Footprints. The problem is if I'm not happy with what I've done and it becomes an on-going struggle with myself I'm inclined to give up. I definitely don't want that to happen.

We do a fair amount in the city; things which are part of our lives that we would not want to change. However, it is a 40km round trip from our house into the city. Furthermore, moving closer is not on the plan in the short-term. My husband and I will have to do at least three round trips into the city this weekend for various activities. That kind of thing really bothers me these days - causing all those emissions. Eeww. Unfortunately, public transport isn't an option because of time of day and/or location.

I could get really down about this and annoyed with myself. However, I think it would be more productive now and in the long-term just to focus on the things that I am able to change in the present and be proud of what we're achieving. We both drive four cylinder cars. I try to batch my errands and walk when and where I can. It may not offset what we're emitting but at least we're trying. That's got to be good enough for now.

Smells like salad dressing

The one area where we haven't had to make any changes is cleaning the house. Several years ago, worried about what nasties there may be in cleaning products, I began to clean with bicarb and vinegar. I noticed no difference in the quality of the cleaning the house was getting so I've been using it ever since.

The children know when I've cleaned the house because they get home from school, take a deep breath and smell the vinegar. Not that pleasant but it doesn't linger long. Recently, I read that lavender oil was a good anti-bacterial and antiseptic so I mixed up a batch of water and lavender oil in a spray bottle. I used that today instead of wiping the bicarb/vinegar with a plain damp cloth. I also used it on the floors. As a result, the house smells very fresh.

The Dreaded Electricity Bill

It was never an aim of Footprints to save money. It would be great if we could but our two aims have always been to try to reduce our impact on the environment and increase our impact on humanity - in a positive way, of course. Our expectation was that financially the net effect would be zero. We would reduce expenses in some areas and increase them in others.

Having said that I was pleased with our most recent electricity bill. There was a reduction in the cost but what pleased me more was the graph comparing our emission output from the same time last year to this year. I don't remember all the whys and wherefores but the bar from this year was significantly lower than it was for the same period last year. For that to occur at the end of winter means that all the seemingly small things we began early in the billing period paid off.

We don't know how we're doing with all this. As far as I can tell, my rubbish and recycling bins are as full as they've ever been and I seem to be driving as much as before. Furthermore, it's difficult to learn which companies actually source their goods ethically. It's easier with groceries and I love getting to the supermarket check out with a basket mostly full of goods produced by ethical and/or eco-friendly companies. So, to receive a bill that can chart our progress was very gratifying and another indicator that we may be reducing our Footprint.

My son's new European cushion

My son turned 13 in July but he was still using a Bananas in Pyjamas U-pillow. It was third hand when he got it in his toddler years and the cover was ripping and the stuffing falling out. In addition to that, it simply wasn't cool for a boy of his age to have it propped up on his bed.

I realized around this time that I also was storing two Queen size flat sheets that were probably never going to be used. Rather than give the sheets to the Salvos and then go and buy my son a new U-pillow, about which I'd inevitably do research first to find an ethical manufacturer/supplier, I decided to used the sheets to make him a European pillow.

We have three European pillows in the lounge room which I set out to reproduce.

For me it was a major project because I'm an unskilled and inexperienced sewer. I drafted a pattern, sewed a pillow, stuffed that pillow with the stuffing from the old B.I.P. U-pillow and made a cover. At one stage I got a little over-confident and cocky and was forced to unpick some of what I'd sewn. That glitch was caused purely by not checking the existing cover before launching into the new one.

Anyway, ultimately, I completed the pillow and now my son has a new and much more age appropriate one.